Railway-tie lifter.



No. 872,444. PATENTED DEC. 3, 1907. J. W. NORTON.

. RAILWAY TIE LIFTER.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 9. 1901 i, u use:

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UNITED STATES PATENT onrrcn.

JAMESW. NORTON, OI" LOVELADY, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM COLLINS,

OF LOVELADY, TEXAS.

RAILWAY-TIE LIFTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1907.

Application filed August 9. 1907. Serial No. 387.940.

I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. NORTON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Lovelady, in the county of Houston and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway- Tie Lifters; and I. do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descrip tion of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertalns to/make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawlngs,

, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon,

which form a part of this specifications This invention appertains to certain new and useful improvements in railway tie lifters,

' and a device constructed in accord with my placed upon a rail, the same having a vertically movable bar to which there is attached a pair of tie-engaging hooks that are guided and shaped to span the rail and engage the tie on opposite sides, as will be hereinafter set forth and specifically pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a railway tie lifter made in accordwith my invention, and Fig. 2 is an end elevation.

In the construction of a device in accord with my invention the frame A may be made up of two side pieces a, a, interposed blocks 6,1) and connecting bolts, the side pieces having depending portions at the ends which extend below the lower edge of the blocks, so that such lower edge of the blocks will bear uponthe tread of the rail, the rail being spanned by the depending portions of the side pieces, if preferred the frame may be made in one piece of cast metal, or it may be forged and. connected by rivet-s. The part corresponding with the block b, or said block has slightly in the rear of the front edge upward extending parts 1) between which is pivoted a pawl C, beneath one end of which is a spring 0, and above the spring the pawl has a cross-bar or side extensions 0 upon which pressure may be applied to depress and release the pawl, and the height of the pawl from the lower end of the frame is such that the pawl may be depressed by the operator placing his foot thereon. The pawl C engages a rack-bar D, the face thereof adjacent to the pawl having teeth or notches d and on the opposite side with teeth (1, with which the teeth 6 formed upon the lever E engage. A lever E, is fulcrumed between the sides of the frame A, and the limit of downward movement of the lever and up- Ward rack-bar are indicated by dotted lines on Fig. 1. of the drawings.

The rack-bar has attached to its upper end a pair of grappling bars or rods, F, I so that one of the bars will depend on each side of the frame, and the frame has staples or loops positioned on one side to the front and on the other side to the rear of the rack-bar so that the grappling bars will be uided to overlie the sides of a tie when the frame is pro erly placed upon a rail. The lower ends 0' the grappling bars are bent to form hooks that engage the under side of the tie..

in order that the railway-tie lifter may be readily moved along a rail, it is provided with a roller G, such roller being placed so that a part thereof will extend forward of the front edge of the frame, the lower edge of the roller being maintained at a short distance above the bottom of the base so as not to engage the rail when the device is in use, and when it is desired to move the device along a rail, a hand-hold g on the rear end of the frame is grasped and such end is raised to cause the wheel G to contact with the rail, and as the depending portions of the frame at the front straddle the rail, the implement will be guided thereby.

The implement herein described is portable and in use it rests upon the rail on each side of the tie to be lifted, and the grappling bars engage with the tie on both sides of the rail, and not upon other ties or the ballast as with other implements for the same purpose. Then the lever is depressed the tie is raised and ballast may be tamped under the tie ular construction illustrated, but reserve the right to modify my invention Within the scope and purport of my claims.

I claim.

1. In a device for lifting railroad ties, a frame constructed to bear lon itudinally upon the tread of one of the rails of a railroad track, such frame having lugs that depend from both sides of its lower end portions to overlie the sides of the upper part of the rail 'When the frame is mounted thereon, a rackbar maintained and guided by the central portion of the frame, a lever fulcrumed to the frame and adapted to engage the rackbar, and tie-engagmg-bars attached to the rack-bar and spanning the rail-engaging frame, substantially as shown.

2. In a device of the character set forth, a frame constructed to engage a railroad rail and provided with lugs that depend below the portion of the frame that bears upon the tread of the rail, a vertically movable bar carried by the frame, a pair of grappling bars attached to the movable bar above the frame and a lever fulcrumed to the frame for reciprocating the movable bar.

JAMES W. NORTON.

Witnesses:

C.- B. MooRE, N. H. MOORE. 

